3rd annual film festival in Ridgewood welcomes student work

A still from "A Colorful Romance," a feature-length film by two Ridgewood High School students.

"A Colorful Romance," one of the feature-length entries in Ridgewood's Spring Film Festival this year, opens with a short black-and-white sequence highlighting the village's streets and landmarks like Ridgewood Avenue and Van Neste Square. The rest of the film follows awkward teenager Ted as he falls for Katie, the head cheerleader who literally brings color into his life via a secret Technicolor portal in the woods. The 64-minute film was made entirely by two teenagers.

A scene from "Jersey City: 24 Hours in Public Places," by New Jersey City University media students.

"Being a former educator, I'm always in awe of the student filmmakers," said Ridgewood Guild president Tony Damiano. "They're all so enthusiastic, and the quality of the work we get from them is unbelievable."

Now in its third year, the film festival organized by the guild invites rookie and veteran filmmakers to showcase their independent work – via short film, documentary, animation or music video – for public viewing at the local Clearview Cinema.

This year's event, which highlights "Women in Film" as its theme, is one of several film festivals to be held in the area in the coming weeks; the Passaic County Film Festival screens Saturday, and the second annual Montclair Film Festival will launch April 29.

Damiano discovered Spencer Muhlstock and Hayes Walsh, the Ridgewood High School students behind "A Colorful Romance," via YouTube last year. He encouraged them to enter one of their short films, "The White Crayon," into the 2012 film festival, and they ended up winning their category with it.

Other entries came from students at Bergenfield, Indian Hills and Northern Highlands Regional high schools.

Several Q&A sessions and workshops have been added to this year's festival. Among them: one led by Muhlstock, 15, and Walsh, 16.

Both agree they've come a long way from the YouTube videos that were done "just for fun."

"Our motives are definitely different from last year," Walsh said. "And by no means are we stopping now."

In between planning their next project, which they hope to fund through crowd-funding site IndieGoGo, the boys offer their services to local businesses that need to film an advertisement or special event.

Similarly, relationships exist between the Spring Film Festival and select Ridgewood establishments: This year's two-day event is sponsored by Boiling Springs Bank, The Valley Hospital and Applebee's, and early-bird specials prior to each night's screenings are offered at The Daily Treat, It's Greek to Me and Natalie's Restaurant. At the festival's end, an after-party and complimentary buffet will be held at Smith Brothers Steak and Chop House.

The camaraderie among local businesses in Ridgewood, especially that between the theater and local restaurants, is crucial to the community, said Damiano. Last year's closing of Cedar Lane Cinemas in Teaneck, for example, is something he said he hopes will never happen in Ridgewood. (A Long Island businessman plans to reopen the Teaneck theater this summer.)

"We're actually looking to build a cultural center in town," Damiano said. The Spring Film Festival, he said, is only touching the surface of what Ridgewood can do to support the arts.